Heart Failure
by AJ Taylir
Summary: Losing the battle with Riku in Hollow Bastion. Oneshot.


(A/N: When I was new to Kingdom Hearts, ah, so long ago, Riku kicked my butt a lot, in the Bastion that was Hollow. Six times I tried, six times I lost. Without my allies, I was toast. It wasn't until I trained a lot, to level 70 I grew, then fought again to successful end... Eah, I'm sick of rhyming...

In a fit of fictional frustration, I scrabbled this together for no particular reason or point. I just decided to write it because I lost a lot, and in speculation of a little 'what if?'. Even now I can see just how much my writing style has changed. This seems raw to me, but here it is. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, etc... Pre-battle conversation is taken as it comes from the game itself, the rest is my work.)

----------------+

"Kairi!" Sora called out in surprise. Kairi was laying there.

He hurried to her side, scooping her up and gently shaking her.

"Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use."

Sora looked up. Sitting over a pulsating hole in the wall was Riku, dressed in his Heartless attire.

"That girl has lost her heart. She cannot awaken."

Gently, Sora lowered Kairi's limp form to the ground and stood.

"What? You... you're not Riku."

"The keyhole cannot be complete so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps." Riku said, floating down to the ground.

"The princess..." Sora looked at Kairi, then back to Riku.

"Kairi's a princess?" He asked in shock.

"Yes, and without her power, the keyhole will remain incomplete." Riku replied, touching down on the floor.

"It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora demanded.

"But first," Riku replied. "You must give the princess back her heart." He pointed his Keyblade at Sora.

Suddenly, Sora felt a great, heavy pain. His heart was aching at the force Riku had. He felt weak, and dropped to his knees.

"Sora!" Donald cried out.

"What's -" Sora grunted.

"Don't you see yet?" Riku replied petulantly. "The princess's heart is responding." He said, coming down the stairs. "It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you."

Sora breathed heavily. He turned his gaze to Kairi.

"Kairi... Kairi's inside me?" he asked.

"I know all that there is to know." Riku claimed.

"Tell me. Who are you?" Sora asked tiredly.

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." He replied, and walked toward Sora.

Donald ran at him to stop him, but was knocked effortlessly aside, and through the same barrier that had stopped Goofy from following.

He stepped up to Sora, and pointed his Keyblade at him.

"So, I shall release you now, princess. Complete the keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"

He swung his Keyblade back to strike.

An emboldening thought raced through Sora's head: The same voice that had supported him before: Kairi's voice.

_Sora!_

He swung up his Keyblade to block Riku's.

Riku pressed on the opposition, but Sora met him with equal force, getting to his feet.

"Forget it." he said. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!" He threw Riku's Keyblade back with a surge of newfound strength.

They faced off, trading mostly equal blows. Without the usual aid from his companions, Sora found himself having to reevaluate a lot of strategy. He hadn't had to fight alone since his first arrival in Traverse Town. This was made horribly clear as he was forced to back up and heal more than once.

Riku had been better than him in fights before, but this was ridiculous. This Ansem character was going too far.

Sora eventually learned a halfway decent hit and run strategy that slowly whittled away at Riku. Perhaps he could win this after all, he thought, as he jumped and glided out of range.

A quick healing spell and he was at it again. He knew this had to over sooner or later.

He charged in for another attack.

"Behold the power of darkness!" Riku suddenly cried out, gathering darkness to him. He sped by, faster than even Leon or Cloud. Sora responded just one second too late. He got caught in a shower of blows from all sides. He tried to block, or duck, or something, but his limbs couldn't move fast enough.

Then it stopped. Sora staggered a little as he used a hi-potion. Riku was watching him carefully from a distance.

The attack had winded him. From that point on, Sora felt he couldn't quit keep the same pace as before.

But he still had to fight. To free Kairi, and Riku, from Ansem. It might be Riku's body, but Ansem was controlling it.

Steeling himself, Sora jumped up to glide into his next attack. He dropped neatly in Riku's face and started swinging. Riku broke away and started gathering darkness again. Sora tried to gain ground, to stop him before he unleashed that attack again.

But he was too late.

Riku came charging in a dark blaze, and beat Sora from a thousand directions.

When the assault was finished, Riku let his final blow carry him out to the side a few paces.

A numb silence descended.

Sora collapsed to the hard floor.

Riku approached. He had a strange, contorted look on his face.

Too weak to get up, Sora just watched in fear as his friend drew nearer against his will. Riku was jerking oddly as he tried to fight Ansem's control, looking a little like a Wight Knight in the process.

"Ri...ku..." he said faintly.

His friend frowned deeply as he pointed the Keyblade at him.

Both friends despaired as they found Ansem too strong to fight.

"Sora... I... can't..." Riku grunted, and closed his eyes as he drew his arm back.

Both friends felt unforgivable under Kairi's ethereal watch.

Sora struggled to his feet. Something in him wouldn't let him take it lying down. He shook with the effort. His lip was bleeding, and his cut and bruised skin was beginning to purple. His breathing was heavy. All the worlds were depending on him. He had to stand. He had to fight. He had to... His Keyblade slid from his weak grip, clattering to the floor.

A strange, accepting sadness washed over him.

"I'm sorry." The two said at once, and Riku's Keyblade came down.

The last thing Sora saw was a strange light escaping him: Kairi's heart. He fell backward, and onto the floor again. Even as his body stopped falling, his stomach continued the plummet. He had let everyone down. Everyone, and Kairi. Most of all, her. Darkness crept over him. In the distance, he heard her voice.

"Kairi... I'm sorry." He said on his last breath.


End file.
